NEWS EXTRA

This segment provides the viewer / reader with news they might have missed and focuses on key issues related to current and past events. These articles are provided courtesy of our many contributing sources. We ask that you enjoy these stories and continue your support of beenetworknews.com, our contributing sources and publishers.

Sebastian Coe applauds success as Laureus project in Tanzania helps 1.3 million young people

Laureus Ambassador Tegla Loroupe hands over Olympic legacy project to Tanzanian Government after three highly successful years

Laureus supports more than 150 sports-based projects in 34 countries

SOURCE: Laureus Sport for Good Foundation

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA – Laureus Ambassador Tegla Loroupe has formally closed the first phase of one of the most successful sports projects in which the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation has ever been involved.

Laureus teamed up with International Inspiration, the official legacy program of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to engage 400,000 young people from five Tanzanian regions by 2014, using physical education (PE) and sport to help develop leadership, education, work and life skills.

After a highly successful three years, more than 1.3 million young people have been involved and now Laureus is handing over operation of the project to the Tanzanian Government. The program will now be called ‘National Inspiration’.

Tegla was joined at the event in Dar es Salaam by Kasimu Majaliwa, from the Tanzania Prime Minister’s Office, and Sihaba Nkinga, Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Information, responsible for youth, culture and sports.

The International Inspiration Program was conceived from a promise made by Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the 2012 London Olympic Games Organizing Committee, in Singapore in 2005, as part of London’s bid to host the Games. The promise was to ‘reach young people all around the world and connect them to the inspirational power of the Olympic Games so they are inspired to choose sport.’

Laureus World Sports Academy Member Sebastian Coe said: “ We felt it was important to present an international legacy and we set a very simple, but significant target. Through International Inspiration, we wanted 12 million more young people involved in sport in 20 countries by 2012. You can’t do that alone, you have to partner with other organizations and in Tanzania that was Laureus. I am delighted to say the program has far exceeded our target, with over 25 million young people benefiting around the world. In Tanzania alone, with the help of Laureus, we have reached more than 1.3 million young people .”

Kasimu Majaliwa, from the Prime Minister’s Office, who is responsible for regional administration and local government, said: “ The achievements that International Inspiration Tanzania celebrates today could not have been there if we did not have Laureus support. They have done a great job for the children and the youth of this country and on behalf of the government and myself, as a minister in the ministry responsible for supervising the implementation of education policy, I would like to thank Laureus for their support and assure them that we will sustain what we have achieved through our local initiatives .”

International Inspiration is the largest sport and social legacy initiative ever delivered in association with an Olympic and Paralympic Games. The program trained over 225,000 teachers, coaches and young leaders to deliver high quality and inclusive PE and sport; influenced 55 policies, strategies or legislative changes; and inspired and enriched the lives of over 25 million children and young people around the world.

Laureus Ambassador Tegla Loroupe, who won the world championship for the half-marathon distance three times and was the first African woman to win the New York Marathon, said: “ We are very proud of the work of the International Inspiration Program in Tanzania with the support of Laureus. The best thing about this program has been involving government, who will now make sure that the work is sustainable and replicated in other regions in Tanzania. I saw young people with and without disabilities playing together without any discrimination. This is a perfect demonstration of the power of sport in uniting people .”

The events in Dar es Salaam included a seminar involving regional sports officers from all over Tanzania to develop strategies for how National Inspiration could be replicated throughout the country.

Tanzania’s social problems include a tragically high rate of mortality due to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and malaria and worrying drop-out rates in schools, where many spend just five years in the classroom. This has resulted in many people becoming trapped in a low-skilled, low-income environment.

With the Tanzanian Government recently re-introducing PE and sport in schools and the launch of a national sport strategy, the opportunity existed to put in place the International Inspiration program, which has trained teachers, provided facilities and resources for sport in schools and the community and strengthened leadership, coaching and administration in sports governing bodies and clubs.

With Laureus Sport for Good Foundation’s funding for training, resources and curriculum development, International Inspiration Program has driven positive change by:

Engaging with children and young people in education/vocational skills by supporting the implementation of a standard curriculum through the development of teaching, provision of learning materials and increasing the number of qualified teachers

I know I can deal with the pressure, and if I’m in shape, I’m dangerous. So it’s going to be exciting’ – says Felix Sanchez

Double Olympic champion Sanchez, 37, says he will carry on racing until 2017 World Championships in London

LONDON – Laureus Ambassador Felix Sanchez will go for a third Olympic gold medal in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and says he will not retire until after the 2017 World Championships in London, when he will be nearly 40.

In an exclusive interview with Laureus.com , Sanchez, now 37, reveals that he had originally planned to retire after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, but will now continue to London, where he won his second Olympic gold medal in the 400 meters hurdles in 2012, which led to him receiving the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.

“ Rio will be my fifth Olympics. I would have called it quits there, but I got wind that the next World Championships is in London and I just felt like that would be the perfect way to end my career, where I had so much success and such great memories in 2012. Just to finish in 2017 in London would mean ten World Championships and five Olympics and I think that would be an excellent career.”

Sanchez says he has unfinished business in Rio. “The first time I was in Rio was for the 2007 Pan American Games and I was in first place and I smashed into the last hurdle and ended up coming in fourth. So it’s a chance for me to redeem myself.

“It’s going to be exciting. I think I’m five or six years older than the next‑oldest guy in my event, at least top ten in the world, so I know they are hungry, but there’s no real favorite. So that’s also got me motivated and excited. I know I can deal with the pressure, and if I’m in shape, I’m dangerous. So it’s going to be exciting.”

He is also looking forward to competing in the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, where he ran what he describes as ‘”the worst race ever” in the 2008 Olympic Games, after the death of his grandmother. When he won in London four years later, he dedicated the win to her. Now he says: “ I get to go back to Beijing and make things right as far as I’m concerned.”

Sanchez, who was named a Laureus Ambassador last week, was speaking to Laureus.com in New Orleans, where he has been supporting a Laureus Sport for Good Foundation visit. He said: “ We had a panel discussion on how sport and coaching can influence youth in a positive way. For me being a coach for 14 years alongside my competitive career, I’ve seen this at first hand.

“You don’t realize until you’re in it all the tools sport gives you for life in general. Just learning to deal with victory and defeat and learning to set goals and achieve minor improvements daily, always striving to become better. Those are the things that at a young age, they can learn and obviously in the future, whether they become sports figures or go into the working world, those are fundamental.”

The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation uses sport as the means to combat some of the world’s toughest social challenges facing young people today such as juvenile crime, gangs, HIV/AIDS, discrimination, social exclusion, lack of education, landmines awareness and health problems such as obesity. Since its inception Laureus has raised over €60 million and currently supports more than 150 community sports projects in 34 countries.

ASSIGNMENTS / APPOINTMENTS / ANNOUNCEMENTS

SOURCE: Department of Defense

General Officer Assignment

The chief of staff, Air Force announced the following assignment:

Brig. Gen. Cedric D. George, director, system integration, deputy chief of staff for logistics, installations and mission support, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia, to deputy director, resource integration, deputy chief of staff for logistics, installations and mission support, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia.